CHED (Commission on Higher Education) Memorandum Order No. 32 Series of 2010

Moratorium on the opening of all undergraduate and graduate programs in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, NURSING, TEACHER EDUCATION, HOTEL AND RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT and INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION effective School Year 2011-2012.

Admin note:
Moratorium – suspension of an ongoing activity; A legally authorized postponement before some obligation must be discharged

CHED Memorandum Order No. 32 Series of 2010

More information can be read here: Moratorium on new nursing, teaching courses–CHEd

This article is written by RUSTY L. FRANCISCO, EdD, RNC, CEN, CCRN, CNAA and appeared first in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last May 13, 2009. I have asked for his permission if I can post it here and I am glad that he allowed me to do so. This is a good read for nurses and I hope you get inspired by his words. -Rona RN (admin)

Allow me to share my views on the present nursing curriculum and its impact on our nurses’ education and global competitiveness.

The present four-year nursing program includes three summers. If a summer is equivalent to a semester, then the present nursing program is actually five-and-a-half years long. Therefore, the proposal of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to add one more year to what is at present a four-year course—that is a five-year course without summers—is better for two reasons: (1) nursing students can enjoy a much-needed respite during summer, and (2) their parents will be given time to save money for the following semester.

However, we should not worry so much about the length of the program or the tuition fees to be paid. Let’s rather focus on the proper implementation of the curriculum per se. The present curriculum is a well-researched program that was carefully developed by our country’s dedicated deans and noted nursing academicians in consultation with different nursing sectors and specialty groups. In fact, our nursing curriculum’s conceptual framework has been hailed as a blueprint for excellence and has been adopted by many Asian and western countries. And it has been presented at numerous international conventions and accepted by our nursing colleagues globally. Given its content, the curriculum can be said to be in parallel with the global standards of nursing care and practices.

As one of the many Filipino nurses given the chance to teach nursing subjects in the United States for more than 15 years, this is my observation: even though the US nursing program has two entry levels, the predominant one is the Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), a two-year nursing program with barely 600 actual nursing hours in the clinical areas; and it yields amazingly and consistently a very high passing performance in the nursing licensure (NCLEX-CAT) examination.

As to the Filipino nurses’ global competitiveness, to this day they remain the number one choice of other countries trying to make up for their acute nursing shortage. Our nurses may be noted for being inherently caring, respectable and compassionate, but more employers (nursing homes and hospitals), especially in the United States, are now so concerned that the nurses they hire are truly trained in the western nursing practices and standards, or “globally competent.”

Nursing competence (not the BSN degree or passing or topping the mandatory examinations) is very crucial in the effort to prevent and totally eliminate nursing malpractice/negligence. It’s a known fact that the United States is one of the most litigious countries in the whole world and yet it is a favorite destination of our nurses for long-term work tenure.

Hats off and kudos to all our nurses in the academic arena!

—RUSTY L. FRANCISCO, EdD, RNC, CEN, CCRN, CNAA,
chief operating officer, International Division,
NC-CLEX- Global Training Center,
docrusty@ncclex.com

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said that Nursing and Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) are still the top college degrees preferred by incoming college students this school year.

Despite reports of dwindling demand for nurses in other countries, CHED chairman Emmanuel Angeles said that young people would continue choosing Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Hotel and Restaurant Management courses.

A final tally of the enrollment in college degree programs have not yet been gathered due to the ongoing enrolment in many colleges and universities but Angeles said that the initial figures had not shown any major shift in the preferred courses of students.

According to CHED, Nursing, HRM, Information Technology (IT), Elementary Education and Computer Science are the college degree courses with the highest number of enrollees.

There are 422,978 enrollees of Nursing for the academic year 2008 to 2009. HRM had 123,523, IT, 115,605, Elementary Education, 95,725 and Computer Science, 95,134.

CEBU, Philippines – The proposal to add one more year to nursing and other four-year college courses will not yet be implemented during the opening of the new school year this June.

Dr. Jucel Ann Jumao-as, Education Supervisor II of the Commission on Higher Education confirmed that the four-year nursing will be retained in the upcoming school year as stipulated in the CHED’s Memorandum Order 14 Series of 2009. continue reading here.